Book excerpt: As Americas first common-carrier railroad--a railroad mandated to operate for the public and for commerce--the Baltimore & Ohio set the stage for North American railway development. And as such, the railroad racked up a remarkable list of firsts--first to offer scheduled passenger service, first to experiment with steam power, and the first air-conditioned passenger cars, lightweight streamliners, high-speed passenger diesels, and "piggyback" freight services--to name just a few. In this expanded hardcover reissue of the popular 2000 release, authors Kirk Reynolds and Dave Oroszi explore these accomplishments, and with them a significant chapter in American railway history. With an all-new collection of more than 150 photos and illustrations, the book gives a colorful account of the evolution of one of the nations most enduring railroad icons, through good times and bad. Reynolds and Oroszi follow the B&O from its infancy as a horse-powered railway in the first half of the nineteenth century to its 1987 amalgamation into the vast CSX Transportation network. The book tells how the B&O, handicapped by its rugged route from the East Coast to the Midwest nonetheless proved second to none in serving its customers--whether on star passenger lines like the Capitol Limited and National Limited or on a freight network that included such notable offerings as "Sentinel Service" and the "Timesaver" freights. The railroads story, as it unfolds in these pages, makes for an evocative journey through 160 years of railroad history.